Family claims historic win at Baja 1000

The son-father team of Gustavo Vildosola Jr. and Sr. made off-road racing history over the weekend when they became the first Mexican national team to win the overall title of the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 off-road race.

Gustavo Jr., 28, and his 57-year-old father teamed in a Ford F-150 TrophyTruck to cover the 1,061.7-mile course in 19 hours and four seconds to defeat NASCAR driver Robby Gordon by 22 minutes and 18 seconds to win both the featured overall four-wheel and TrophyTruck titles.

San Diego’s Roger Norman finished third overall in the four-wheel divisions, giving him a first, second and third overall in the past three years.

The Honda factory team of Kendall Norman and Cody Quinn won the overall motorcycle title with a run of 19:22:22 for an average speed of 54.87 mph. It was the fifth overall career win for Norman and his fourth straight. It was also Honda’s 14th straight motorcycle win and 21st overall in the 43rd running of off-road racing’s greatest race.

The Vildosola team averaged 55.67 mph, marking the first time since 1973 that a four-wheel vehicle posted a faster time than the motorcycles.

“This means so much to us as the only Mexican team running in the TrophyTruck division,” said Gustavo Jr. The Vildosolas, who reside in Mexicali, finished second overall in the 2007 race.

Gustavo Jr. started the race in Ensenada and also drove the final leg into the finish at La Paz. Gustavo Sr. drove a technically demanding middle section.

“I was second off the line and we were basically going to see what Norman’s pace was going to be and what his plan was for the day and then go from there,” said Gustavo Jr. “Roger had a pretty aggressive pace off the line and we just decided to sit back and pressure him. Roger got a flat a little south of San Felipe and we were able to get around him there and really never looked back.”